October 11, 2009 in Opinion

Editorial: Tough times would last longer under I-1033

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It’s been reported that the recession is over, even if some of its unpleasant effects linger. But they may linger indefinitely in Washington if voters approve Initiative 1033.

The measure would limit general fund revenue growth for the state, as well as all its cities and counties, to the combined rates of population growth and inflation. And since the base year would be 2009 – with its stubborn unemployment figures, anemic retail sales reports and recurrent business closures and cutbacks – that would be I-1033’s model for the future.

Elsewhere in the country, the eventual recovery would enable states, counties and cities to restore the services they are cutting now. In Washington, however, the cuts would remain because rebounding general fund revenues that exceed I-1033’s formula would all go to property tax relief.

That may sound appealing to many property owners, but is it reasonable? Unfortunately, population and inflation are only two of many factors that influence the demands on state or local government.

City and county snowplowing costs didn’t soar the past two winters because the population doubled. Snowfall did. Criminals don’t check the consumer price index to decide when to hold up a convenience store. If anything, crime – and the demand for sufficient law enforcement – is more likely to increase when the economy sours, which is also when public revenues dip. Under I-1033, therefore, it would be harder to bolster the police force when it most needs bolstering.

Even when we aren’t enduring the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, economies are cyclical. That’s why frugal governments build up their reserves during the good years and draw them down during the lean. But I-1033 would lock us into today’s sputtering revenue levels.

Property owners, according to the initiative, are bearing an “obscene and unsustainable” burden. But property taxes in Washington actually rank 25th among all states, and in Spokane County, about half the bill reflects voter-approved assessments. Besides, a previous initiative already limits property tax collections to 1 percent annual growth.

All in all, it’s no wonder that such tight-fisted conservatives as County Commissioner Todd Mielke and Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin oppose I-1033.

Yes, there’s a modest escape hatch in the form of voter approval. That’s not much consolation for local governments that would have to bear the uncertainty – and the expense – of holding elections and herding voters to the polls for every snowstorm, crime wave and efficiency move that called for or generated revenue opportunities.

And with so much financial uncertainty, bond ratings would suffer, driving up the cost of borrowing when voters did approve a capital project.

Most people in this region are willing to shoulder a reasonable tax burden to pay for fundamental government services, and they’re eager for the economic recovery that will make it possible. Initiative 1033 would only prolong the difficult times.

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Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

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  westside on October 11 at 7:16 p.m.

  Property taxes on the west side are 2-4 times poor Spokane's values…so the relief is over there….

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  Steve Zemke on October 12 at 9:57 a.m.

  Eyman in the Voters Pamphlet says we are the 8th highest taxed state in the country. What he doesn't say is that we also are the 8th highest state in terms of income per capita and this figure includes Federal taxes people pay.

  But I-1033 only deals with state and local taxes. And the conservative Tax Foundation says that we are in the BOTTOM ONE THIRD of states in terms of state and local tax burden. We're NUMBER 35 (with 1 being the highest).

  Tim obviously can't convince many people based on that figure that taxes are obscene as he says repeatedly so he has to use some other statistic which sounds better. But he is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Face it, Eyman can't push his anti-government, anti-tax measures unless he portrays things as really bad.

  What is bad is that people are suffering from a national recession and Eyman wants to lock us into a permanent recession. Vote NO on I-1033!
  

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  Steve Zemke on October 12 at 2:06 p.m.

  I-1033 proposes to transfer tax dollars collected from everyone to just pay property taxes for property owners. It will make our tax system more regressive and shift more of the tax burden onto lower income taxpayers to benefit those with lots of property.

  I-1033 also proposes to freeze all public spending at its current level by Washington State and all 39 counties and all 281 cites. The only way to increase public services will be to have repeated votes by referendum on budgets. No services lost due to the current recession can be increased without a public vote.

  I-1033 proposes to abolish our current form of representative government in place since our state was formed by removing the current power of local elected officials to increase their current budgets.

  All of these proposals are radical changes, not something minor. They will have lasting impacts for years to come as Colorado saw when they enacted a measure like Eyman’s I-1033. Voters there recently suspended the measure as too severe in cutting public services.

  We don't need to change our current tax system to create an even more regressive system. Already lower income people pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than the wealthy. We have the highest sales tax in the country and will still have be the highest if voters pass I-1033.

  We also have no income tax unlike 43 other states. But the real number to keep in mind is the Tax Foundation's rating that we are in the bottom third of states in terms of state and local tax burden overall. WE rank 35th (with 1 being the highest).
  

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  Jason_Koziol on October 14 at 9:13 p.m.

  I understand that Washington taxpayers want a break but this is not it. Think about this if a city is either Seattle or Soap Lake they have to vote everytime they city needs money. To either buy equipment to fix something or a disaster that drained the city or county finiaces. Can you imagine everytime going and voting to hire more police officers because crime increased, tell that to the family member that lost a loved one to a violent crime because there wasn't enough policemen to protect the city or county. People I believe we need change in goverment but not this iniative. Also, think about all the big wig rich people that save thousands or millions and don't pay it foward to help because they won't. Also, prices for needed equipment or supplies go up to maintan cities or counties roads, sewers, water, public saftey, etc, etc. And now we have to spend money (thousands) to vote to increase the taxies to help pay for our needed resources. Come on people think outside of tim eymans box and really look. Why don't we work on making a better plan then this before we ruin our state . Remember, there is more then Western Washington out there so think about the whole state and just not yourself.

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  Mountaineer9 on October 27 at 5:40 p.m.

  Here's the projected impact to the community and technical colleges' funding of I-1033:
  2010: $0 loss.
  2011: $29 million loss.
  2012: $37.6 million loss.
  2013: $46.7 million loss.
  2014: $60.1 million loss.
  2015: $75 million loss.
  These figures assume the colleges will have the same percent of the state budget as they currently have.
  Source: Office of Fiscal Management, State of Washington.

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